CHAPTER - 3

DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT

(DME)

41
3. DME as a navigational aid
Distance plays a vital role for navigating from one point to other. In aviation, for locating
the position of an aircraft polar coordinates (Rho, Theta) system is used, where VOR
provides the bearing and DME the distance. Distance Measuring Equipment, or DME, is
a standard navigational aid used by all members of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) for civilian aircraft operation. For military use, a similar system has
been developed, which is called Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN). Both operate in the
same principal.

Distance measuring is achieved by interactive communication between the aircraft and

the ground DME station. For this an aircraft initiates the process by sending a train of
paired RF modulated pulses at a rate of 135 pulse pairs per second (pps). Once the
aircraft starts getting the replies from the ground DME station the rate is reduced to
27pps. This is called "interrogation" and the aircraft is called "interrogator". After
receiving the signal the DME ground station checks the width and spacing of the
incoming signal to ascertain that they are within the specified limits. If yes, then it is
further delayed to make it exactly 50 us from the time of arrival of the first signal and
then responds back to aircraft with a similar pair of signal. This is called "reply" and the
ground station is referred to as "Transponder".

Hence DME station provides pilots with a continuous digital display of distance from the
aircraft to the facility. Operating on line-of-sight principal, DME furnishes distance
information with a very high degree of accuracy. Reliable signals may be received at
distances up to 200 NM at line-of-sight altitude with an accuracy of better than  0.5 NM
or 1.25% of the range, whichever is greater. However, the system is considered to be
capable of providing distance information accurate to within 370m (0.2NM) or 0.25%
of slant distance, whichever is greater, for at least 95% of time. Principal factors for
maximum range are aircraft height, transmitter power and receiver sensitivity, both in
ground and in the air. Distance information received from DME equipment is Slant
Range distance and not actual horizontal distance.
See fig. 1.

Slant distance

DME station

Actual distance

(Fig. 3.1)

Most of the modern commercial jet-aircraft fly below 40,000 ft. (6.59 NM). Therefore,
when the aircraft is at a longer distance from the DME station, the slant distance and the
actual distance are very close to each other.

42
3.2. Distance measurement
The distance measured by the aircraft is not the horizontal distance but is the "slant"
distance. Since flying height of the aircraft compared to the distance to be measured is
relatively very small, there is virtually a very little difference to be counted for. Hence with
very negligible margin it could be considered as equal to the horizontal distance. See the
following illustration in Fig.2. When the aircraft is 100 NM away from the station and
flying at a height of 6NM (36,500 Ft) then the slant distance would be 100.18 NM which
is very close to 100NM. Accuracy is higher when the aircraft is far from the station.
However, accuracy is lower when closer to the station. Over the DME station, which is
the cone of silence, the accuracy is extremely low and cannot be used. However this
coverage is small and quickly overflown by the aircraft.

Not accurate overhead

D = √ (62 + 1002) = 100.18 NM

6 NM

100Km
(Slant distance. Fig.3.2)

3.3 Applications
Since, DME provides distance information; it can be used in several ways in aviation.

3.3.1 DME co-located with a VOR (VOR/DME) - Rho-theta system

It is the most popular use of DME where a DME is installed together with a VOR. Since
VOR provides azimuth and DME distance, they both form together a Rho-theta (,)
system. Thus, an aircraft can find his polar coordinate of any location around the
VOR/DME station, which acts as the center of the sphere.
This enables the pilots as well as the ground air-traffic controllers to determine the exact
position of the aircraft with respect to the station.

VOR/DME

(Formation of polar coordinate by VOR/DME. Fig.3.3)

43
A VOR/DME station can be located at the

# Vicinity of the runway

# On the centerline of the runway
# Or, on the airway routes.

When it is installed around and on the centerline of the runway, an aircraft can use it for
homing and departure as well as to align itself to the runway, and make straight-in
approach. Such an approach, however, is not very accurate as with an ILS and is called
non-precision approach. An ILS approach is fully reliable hence it is called precision
approach. In the places where an ILS is not available, non-precision approach is very
helpful. Kathmandu airport uses DVOR/DME non-precision approach for all landings and
takeoffs day and night. When a VOR/DME station is located away from the airport, it is
mostly used for en-route aid, which provides position fix and route guidance. The
illustration in Fig. 2.3-3 shows how an aircraft can make turn at points A and B using
VOR/DME systems.

VOR/DME 3

A VOR/DME 2 (200 0NM To #3)

N (100 50NM From #2) B

(30 80NM From #1)

VOR/DME 1

(Departure, position fixing & homing using VOR/DME, Fig.3.4)

In most of the VOR/DME installations both the equipment are placed inside the same
shelter and the DME antenna is located on the same vertical axis of the VOR antenna.
It is called coaxial collocation. In DVOR/DME installations, however, due to space
restrictions the DME antenna may be installed as far as 80m from the VOR antenna
system. In some other situations, the antenna separation may be much higher, but in
any case it should not exceed 600m (2000 ft.). When antennas are separate, it is called
offset collocation.

In VOR/DME installations, DME frequency is paired with VOR as per allocations made in
ICAO Annex-10. Therefore, as soon as a pilot tunes to the specific VOR frequency, if the
DME is collocated, it is received automatically. To identify collocation, both VOR and
DME share the same station identification code. The identification code is repeated
seven times per minute, with three times for VOR and once for DME, and so on. In such
installations, the range of DME should be the same as VOR. The radiation pattern of
both equipment is Omnidirectional. If VOR is not available, DME is sometimes co-
located with a NDB. It serves the same purpose but with less accuracy with respect to
azimuth guidance. In NDB/DME installations the DME frequency is not paired.
Therefore, both have to be selected independently. In Pokhara NDB/DME collocation
has been provided.

44
3.3.2 DME with ILS (ILS/DME)

At some geographical locations, where installation of associated Marker Beacons of the

Instrument Landing System (ILS) is not possible, a DME can be installed to provide the
distance information. When DME is used as an alternate to Markers, the DME is located
on the airport and adjusted in such a way that the zero range indication will be a point
near the end of the runway. Also, to reduce the angular error the DME antenna should
not be more than  20 from the centerline of the runway. In most of the cases, the DME
is normally located inside the Glide Slope (GS) shelter of ILS. The Glide Slope station is
normally 250 to300 meters from the end of the runway, and is only offset from the
centerline by 120-150meters. Therefore, it meets the above requirements. See fig. 2.3-4.
In ILS/DME installations, DME frequency is paired with Localizer frequency and they
both share the same identification tone, like with VOR. While it is not specifically
required that DME be frequency paired with the Localizer, in most of the cases when it is
used as an alternate to Outer Marker, frequency pairing is preferred to simplify pilot
operation.

GS/DME Outer Marker position

(3.5 - 6 NM)

LLZ

Zero distance

(Installation of DME with ILS. Fig. 3.5))

Where only Localizer service is provided, it can be collocated with the Localizer. DME is
also installed with the Microwave Landing System (MLS), which is an alternate to ILS
with better accuracy and ideal for difficult sites. DME collocated with an ILS or MLS
system should have directional radiation pattern with distance accuracy better than  0.2
NM.

3.3.3 DME alone

DME is also installed as an independent station. In such installations the radiation

pattern is normally omnidirectional.

45
3.4 Principal of operation

DME ground system, which has transmitter/receiver, called transponder, works in

conjunction with airborne transmitter/receiver, called interrogator. The principal is that
the interrogator transmits continuously a series of interrogation pulse pairs to the
transponder, which are received by the transponder receiver. After checking the
correctness of the incoming pulses the transponder holds for specified delay period and
transmits back the reply pulses. The time difference between interrogations and reply
pulses are measured in the interrogator receiver which is computed into distance
information to display directly in nautical miles. In navigation the distance is always
measured in nautical mile. 1' (minute) latitude or longitude represents 1NM. (1 NM =
1.86 KM).

Readout in NM

Airborne
Interrogator
Tx Rx

Rx Ground
Tx
Transponder

Delay

(Distance Measuring System. Fig.3.6)

DME operates in UHF frequency band from 960 MHz to 1215 MHz. The band is divided
in to 126 1-MHz channels for interrogations, and another 126 1-MHz channels for
replies. There is always a difference of  63 MHz between interrogation and reply
pulses. When DME transponder is intended to operate with an ILS, VOR or Microwave
Landing system (MLS), its frequencies are paired with associated navigation system.
The details of these channel pairing is indicated in ICAO Annex-10. Thus, a pilot only
tunes to ILS; VOR or MLS frequency channels and receives automatically the distance
information when a DME is collocated with any of them. To identify a particular station,
DME transmits identification codes at a fixed repetition rate, which varies in accordance
with installations. If alone then it is at the rate of 6 words per minute.

46
For obtaining the distance information, it is just required to tune the VOR frequency
which will then automatically tune the DME Frequency as they are paired with each
other. The aircraft interrogator starts transmitting a series of double pulses at a Pulse
Repetition Frequency (PRF) of 135 Pulse Pairs per Second (PPS). It is called the
Search Mode. For modern interrogator equipment the search time is just 1-2 seconds.
As soon as the interrogator receives the reply signals from the ground station PRF
decreases from 135 PPS to just 27 PPS and starts displaying the distance information. It
is called Track Mode or Lock Mode.

A modern DME station is capable of proving up to 2700 PPS. Therefore, a maximum of

100 aircraft may receive distance information simultaneously from one transponder.
However, 95 aircraft will be in lock mode and 5 in track mode. When there is no
interrogation from the aircraft, the transponder receiver generates the interrogation
signals internally at the rate of 2700 PPS and receives the reply in order to keep on
activating the transponder continuously, and to monitor the performance of the station.
As the aircraft interrogations are increased the internal interrogations are automatically
decreased at the same rate to keep overall PRF to 2700.

For interrogation as well as for reply DME uses a pair of pulses, called Gaussian Pulses,
which are 12  0.25 s apart and 3.5  0.5 s wide. The frequencies of interrogation and
reply, however, differ by  63 MHz from each other.

After receiving a pair of interrogation pulses the DME receiver checks the width and
spacing of the pulses, holds it for a total of 50  1s and then triggers back a reply.
Therefore, from the start time of the reception of the pulses the transponder receiver
would not accept any new incoming signals for 50  1s. This is called “Receiver Dead
Time”..

0.5

3.5  0.5s width

12  0.25s spacing

(Pulse width and spacing of interrogation and reply for DME. Fig 3.7)

The DME receiver dead time of 50  1s is necessary to make all the DME equipment
similar in performance as the actual circuit delay could vary from 20 to 30 s from
equipment to equipment that may lead to unacceptable errors. Furthermore it has
significant importance in echo suppression. This would be dealt with in detail in the
following paragraphs.

47
 Interrogation Reply

50  1s

(Receiver delay or dead time. Fig.3.8)

3.5 Gaussian Pulse

The DME system uses Gaussian Pulses instead of rectangular pulses, as normally is in
the case of primary Radar system. The reason for this is that the DME channels are very
closely spaced, i.e. 1-MHz apart.

If rectangular pulses were used then the frequency spectrum would follow a SinX/X form
and the energy would spread outside the 1-MHz channel bandwidth. This would cause
the energy to pass into adjacent channels, which may give rise to unnecessary
interference in co-channels.

To decrease the spectrum width it is necessary to reduce harmonics in the pulse. That's
why the Gaussian pulse has been chosen. Mathematically it can be proved that a
Gaussian pulse has relatively smaller frequency spectrum. Hence, most of the energy
can be maintained within the 1-MHz channel and interference with co-channel stations is
reduced. The Gaussian pulse can be represented by the formula:

f (x) = Ae(-t/σ)2
Where “A” is the amplitude and “σ” is the pulse half duration at 1/e point.

But this is at the expense of accuracy in distance indication, because if the detection
level will vary (which normally would occur due to shape of the pulse), it will result in
variation of time. In DME, the measurement of time is done at half amplitude of the
Gaussian pulse. Therefore, any distortion in shape may cause distance error. A variation
of just 1 s may cause an error of approximately 150 meters.

ICAO Annex-10 specifies the shape of the Gaussian pulse. The Gaussian pulse has
been illustrated in Fig.9. To reduce the harmonics and the distance error, the pulse
should be obtained in the equipment as accurately as possible.

48
Amplitude

100%

90%

50%

10%
Time

Pulse rise time Pulse decay time

Pulse duration

(Gaussian pulse : Fig.-3.9)

Pulse rise time - The time as measured between 10 and 90 per cent amplitude
points on the leading edge of the pulse envelope. (2.5 - 3 s )

Pulse decay time-The time as measured between 90 and 10 per cent amplitude
points on the trailing edge of the pulse envelope. (2.5 - 3 s )

Pulse duration - The time interval between the 50% amplitude point on leading
and trailing edges of the pulse envelope. (3.5  0.5s)

49
3.6 DME Transponder Operation
A simplified bloc diagram for a general DME transponder is shown in Fig. 10. The
transponder antenna, which is normally a stacked array of conical dipoles, receives
interrogation pulses. Polarization of antenna is vertical and it radiates omni-directionally
in the horizontal plain with 9dB gain at 3 degree over the horizon. The antenna works in
L-band.

Interrogating pulses Reply pulses fo + 63 MHZ

(fo)

Antenna Mixer Decoder Monitors

and IF 1&2
ampl.

50 us

Receiver
Dead
time
Coupler

Transmitter Encoder Main delay Station

Unit Identification

(Simplified Bloc Diagram of Transponder. Fig. 3.10)

The coupler isolates the Receiver and Transmitter signals and hence the Interrogating
pulses are passed to the Mixer, which gives 63 MHz (difference between interrogating
and reply frequencies).

The signal is amplified in the IF unit and also passes through a Ferris Discriminator
which is a very high selective Band Pass filter. Normally in the IF unit the signal is also
mixed down to a 2nd IF frequency around 11 MHz. the signal is then detected and
passed to a Decoder which checks that the pulse spacing of the so called video pulses
(LF pulses) are within 12 + 1 us. If so, the Decoder triggers a short spike pulse with
reference to the 2nd pulse in the pair.

50
Normally the total system delay in a modern transponder circuitry is approximately 20us
(including the 12us delay in decoder) hence the Main delay circuit must delay the pulse
spike for further 30us to obtain the over all delay of 50us. The Main delay circuit is
mainly a simple Monostable multivibrator. The Coder (or Encoder) will for each spike
input give out a double Gaussian pulse pair with the correct pulse spacing and pulse
characteristics given by ICAO. (The Coder consists mainly of multivibrators and a
Gaussian filter). This video signal modulates the Transmitter, which produces RF pulse
pairs with correct frequency. The Transmitters are either Low power (100 Wp
transistorized PA) or Medium power (1kWp PA including valves) or High power (5kWp
with klystrons). Here Wp denotes “pulse power” that is much lower than the average
power of the transmitter. Pulse power is the power of the transmitter for a very short
period while transmitting the particular pulse. The frequency is always 63 MHZ above or
below the correct interrogating frequencies.

The Transponder also transmits identifications signal at every 30 seconds when co-
located with VOR or ILS-LLZ. The identification signal has the frequency 1350 pulse per
second and do have 2 or 3 letters in the Morse code which indicates the signature of the
ground beacon.

Even if no aircraft is present to interrogate the transponder the duty cycle must be kept
constant 2700 pulse pairs and this is carried out by the Monitor, which gives noise or
squitter pulses inversely proportional to interrogating pulses. Therefore, with no
interrogations all 2700 pulse pairs will come from the Monitor. On the other hand, with
100 aircrafts interrogating, there will be no pulses coming out from the Monitor, because
all 2700 pulse pairs will be produced by the aircraft.

3.7 First come first served

The pulses interrogated from the aircraft are replied one by one by the DME station. In
fact a DME station is unaware of the origin of the pulses. So long as it receives a valid
pulse (with 3.5 ±0.5 us wide and 12 ±1 us spaced) it would reply. It may also reply to the
echo (from reflections) pulses so long as they measure correctly. How does an aircraft
recognize its anticipated response? This is evident from the following example. The
interrogation rate (135 pps or 27pps) is very slow compared to timeframe allocated in a
second. The aircraft interrogates only at the rate of 135 or 27 pulse pairs in a second.
Therefore looking at the time elapsed there is huge interval between one pulse pair to
next one. See Fig.11. Suppose an aircraft at certain distance is interrogating at 27pps to
the DME station and there is x us between the pulse pairs. Then from the illustration
below:

1-st pair 2-nd pair 3-rd pair 27-th pair

x
106 us

(Spacing between interrogation pulses Fig.3.11)

51
 6
27(12+x) = 10 us
Hence x = 37,000 us

Therefore, between the interrogation pulses there is a silence period of approximately

37000 us. This time would be enough, for example, to answer 50 aircraft 50Km away
from the station before the second pair would be initiated from that aircraft. Hence, while
a particular aircraft is waiting to send another pulse pair after receiving the response,
several other aircraft would get the chance to interrogate and receive the response.
Also, an aircraft would lock to a DME station only when it would receive a series of
similar response. That is not possible to get from an interrogation by another aircraft as
pulse arrival times would not match with each other. Sometimes the echo pulses closer
to station may cause problem. But it is effectively eliminated by other techniques. This
will be dealt with later.

3.8 DME errors and echo suppression

3.8.1 DME errors

DME works in UHF band, therefore, strict line-of-sight principal applies to it. DME mainly
suffers from multi-path error. Since DME antenna in the aircraft is not directional, the
interrogation pulses from the aircraft may also be reflected from the surrounding terrain;
buildings etc. and arrive later as the echo pulses. See Fig. 12. The echo pulses, if they
are strong and within the specified limits (i.e. correct width and spacing), they may also
be accepted by the transponder as the true signals. Consequently, false replies may be
triggered back. These replies originating from echo pulses could be accepted in some
aircraft receivers and may cause false indications.

Tower

t2

t
rock

t1

t3

DME station House

(Formation of echo pulses. Fig. 3.12)

52
3.8.2 Echo suppression by DME dead time

To eliminate echo to some extent, DME dead time is very useful. The DME dead time is
a period of blanking of the transponder receiver during which no incoming signal is
accepted. In most of the DME transponders the dead time is adjusted to 50  1s. If the
reflecting points are within 5 NM from the DME station then most of the echo pulses will
be rejected by the DME receiver. However, the long distance echo pulses, if they are
strong, may cause problem. The following illustration clarifies the above statements.

3.8.2.1 Short distance echo

The echo pulses may arrive in phase or out of phase compared to direct pulses. The
Fig.13 illustrates the situation when both pulses arrive in phase. If the first pair of the
echo pulse arrives with a delay of, say, 10 s then the first direct pulse will not be
distorted. However, the second direct pulse will add up with the first echo pulse. From
the above it is seen that after addition the width of the second pulse gets wider. If it is
more than 4 s then the DME receiver will reject the pair. Similarly, when the echo pulse
will arrive anti-phase then the composite waveform will be less than 3.5 s, which will
again be rejected by the receiver. To avoid this situation blanking of receiver for some
time is necessary, which is referred to as DME dead time or receiver dead time. During
this period no other pair is accepted until a reply has been made in response to that
particular pair. If the receiver dead time was not there any echo pulse that will arrive
during that period would have been accepted by the receiver. This would have created
either rejection of valid pulses due to signal deformations or false distance indications
due to echoes.

1-st pulse 2-nd pulse

Direct pulse

Echo pulse

Resultant pulse

3.5s > 4.5s

<
12 s

(Deformation of pulse pair due to echo. Fig. 3.13)

53
Receiver dead time is normally adjusted to 50 - 60 s. It will protect from echo signals
that will generate from reflections closer to DME station (up to 5 NM). These are the
short distance echoes.

3.8.2.2 Long-distance echo

Long-distance echoes are those which arrive after the receiver dead time. Normally the
long distance echoes are weaker. Therefore, they are below the receiver threshold point
and rejected by the transponder. However, sometimes the far distance echoes may be
strong enough to be accepted by the receiver and trigger the replies causing false lock
on problem. To avoid the situations the receiver dead time may be increased further
more than the normal 50 to 60 s.

By increasing the receiver dead time false lock on problem may be reduced but this will
affect on overall reply efficiency of the Ground station. This is because during the dead
time the transponder receiver will reject all the incoming signals from other aircraft.
Reply efficiency is a factor that indicates the ability of the transponder receiver to receive
interrogations and make replies successfully. There is a relationship between efficiency
and dead time.

Reply efficiency = 1 - 2700X receiver dead time.

For 50 s receiver dead time we get:
Reply efficiency = 1-2700X50. 10-6 = 0.86.5 (86.5%)

For 100 s receiver dead time we get:

Reply efficiency = 1-2700X100. 10-6 = 0.73 (73.5%)

Thus, by increasing the receiver dead time while we can suppress the long distance
echoes, we reduce the reply efficiency of the ground system. So length of the receiver
dead time should be taken in to consideration only after examining the nature of the
echoes. The following illustration in Fig. 14 shows the relationship between receiver
dead time and reply efficiency of the DME. If the dead time is more than 150 s then the
reply efficiency in practice will be 50%, which is the lower threshold of an aircraft
interrogator to maintain the distance information. ICAO recommends to keep the dead
time not exceeding 60  1s unless the long distance echoes are too prominent to be
neglected. Even then it should be increased only by the minimum amount just necessary
to allow the suppression of echoes

Reply Eff.

100%

80%

50%

60 80 100 120 140 Rx dead time s

(Receiver dead time vs. reply efficiency, Fig.3.14)

54
Another factor, that affects the reply efficiency, is the receiver sensitivity or receiver
threshold. In order to accept most of the aircraft signals the receiver sensitivity of the
ground equipment should be very high. In any case, if the incoming pulse pair strength is
- 120 dbW/m2 the transponder will reply with an efficiency of 70% or more. The
transponder output power is normally kept at 1KW pulse peak power.

3.9 Siting requirements

The basic requirements in siting a DME beacon are to ensure adequate coverage and to
avoid the possibility of interference to the correct operation of the aid. Site selected in
open country should keep hills, mountains, large buildings, etc. at as small angle of
elevation as practicable. The Fig. 15 shows the basic site requirements of a DME
station.

Non-metallic objects

Metallic objects

DME 2.5 1.2

200' 1000'

Gradient of 4:100

(Basic site requirement of a DME, Fig. 3.15)

The distant obstacle horizon should preferably not extend above an elevation angle of
0.5 when viewed from the near ground level at the proposed location of the DME.
Within 200' from the DME antenna the area should be flat and clear of all obstructions.
No group of trees or overhead lines are permitted within this radius. Beyond 200' a
downward slope of 4:100 is permitted. Within 200' - 1000' from the DME all metallic
objects should not subtend an angle greater than 1.2. For non-metallic obstructions up
to 2.5 is allowed. As a general guidance, small buildings, power and telephone lines
and fences can be tolerated within 200' provided they are not higher than the DME
antenna. Normally a DME antenna is kept up to a height of 20' from the ground if that
clears local obstructions.

Large buildings such as multi-story buildings, steel bridges, metallic towers etc. are
potential sources of interference. If they are within 3 NM from the station they may cause
signal deformations. All the houses within 1000' should be constructed lengthwise and
along the radials from the DME station as far as practicable. DME is highly affected by
electrical noise. Therefore, any high-tension line above 22KV should be kept as far as
3000'. There are no restrictions on vehicular movements around the site.

55
3.10 Antenna system
Since DME suffers from echo signals generated by multi-path effect, highly directional
antenna system is used to avoid unwanted reflections. The DME signal is vertically
polarized. In non-directional stations, such as in VOR/DME, the radiated signal is
Omnidirectional with slightly tilted beam width of approximately 6. This provides desired
power on the horizon necessary for minimum echo generation. See fig.16.

6

DME station

(Radiation pattern of DME. Fig. 3.16)

To achieve such a low beam width stacked biconical antenna radiating elements are
used. They form together an antenna array, which provides narrow radiation pattern of
6. The difference between maximum and minimum azimuth points is not more than 2db.

(Biconical antenna element. Fig. 3.17)

When a DME is installed with an ILS highly directional antenna system is used.
Furthermore, in such an installation the transponder time delay is adjusted in such a
manner that the aircraft interrogator indicates zero range at a specified point.

3.11 Monitoring and calibrations

The DME is a highly accurate and dependable aid, which provides distance information
to the aircraft. Therefore, the independent monitor units constantly monitor its
performance. Normally up to two monitors are used. In the even that any of the
conditions specified below occur, the monitors will cause the following actions to take
place:

# a suitable indication shall be given at the aircraft cockpit.

# the operating transponder shall be automatically switched off and the standby
transponder will be turned on.

# The monitors continuously measure the following radiated parameters of the DME:

56
# a fall of 3db or more in transmitted power output.

# Pulse spacing of 12 s exceeds more than  1s

# Reply delay exceeds by  1s

# Reply efficiency  70%

# Identification tone not repeated every 30 seconds or transmitted continuously for more
than 5 seconds.

# Pulse counts  850 pulse pairs per second.

Monitoring signals are obtained from the pick up probes closely placed near the antenna
elements.

Like in other navigational aid equipment, calibration is done in regular intervals, both in
the ground and air. While ground calibration is carried out by using specific measuring
test equipment, for the flight calibration specially equipped aircraft is deployed. The
aircraft normally checks the DME coverage area, field strength, reply efficiency and
echoes in the specified routes and places.

57
3.12 Wilcox DME 596B

A simplified block diagram of Wilcox model 596B DME is shown in Fig. 18.
It is one of the most widely used DME ground systems in the world. Basic system theory
of this dual equipment is as follows:

In this diagram transponder No.1 (TX-1) is selected as main and the transponder No. 2
(TX-2) as standby. Each transponder is comprised of a receiver and a transmitter. With
these selections, transponder No.1 replies (RF output) pass through the directional
coupler DC1, through the contacts of Transfer Unit 6S1, through other directional
couplers DC4 and DC3 to the DME antenna. The interrogation signals from the aircraft
are received by the antenna and routed through the same points to the transponder
receiver. The antenna and directional couplers DC3 and DC4 are not switched while
selecting transponders.

Transponder No.2 output (standby in this case) passes through DC2, through additional
contacts of S1, through directional coupler DC5 on to dummy load. Thus, the standby
transponder is also kept in ready hot condition.

The DME has two monitors and they normally operate simultaneously. During
maintenance, one of the monitors may be used to monitor the performance of the
transponder under repair, while other works with the transponder in operation. If both
monitors are operational during normal operation of the DME, they must both report the
same fault conditions, if a fault should occur, to initiate a valid alarm.

Each monitor has two distinct functions; signal monitoring and signal generation.

Signal monitoring is done during reply; i.e. when the transponder is in the transmit mode.
The signal paths for monitoring DME parameters are from S1, through DC3 for Monitor
No.1 and DC4 for Monitor No.2 via respective coaxial jumpers. While monitoring the
signals, both monitor units simultaneously monitor the radiated parameters of the pulses,
i.e. pulse width, pulse spacing, reply delay, identification, power outputs, etc., as
specified in paragraph 2.3.6. The power output parameters are supplied by the pick up
probes (monitor antennas) in the DME antenna.

Signal Generation. In this function the receivers may be considered as "known good"
interrogators. Both monitors generate the interrogation signals as by the aircraft, which
pass through the respective test jumpers, via directional couplers DC3 and DC4 and
contact switch S1 to the working transponder. The replies received from the transponder
are routed through the same points in to the receivers.

Alarm conditions: If the radiating pulses fail to meet the specified limits, an alarm
condition would be reported by both monitors which would cause transfer to the standby
transponder by changing the relay switch S1. The transponder that was main now goes
to standby where it may be serviced while the DME station remains on the air. If the
standby transponder also proves to be faulty the system will shut down. However, in the
case of standby, the system will shut down only if the delay parameters are at fault. This
will ensure the DME service while the other transponder is on maintenance. The
monitors control operation of DME control unit (transfer switch S1).

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Test conditions: The faulty transponder is connected to the dummy load via directional
couplers DC2 and DC5. In this condition the transponder may be repaired and tested
using one of the monitors. While one monitor keeps on interrogating and checking
replies with the radiating transponder, the other may be connected with faulty
transponder via Test jumpers.

Reflected /Incident Jumpers are used to monitor the direct and reflected powers of each
transponder. In the incident condition the RF outputs from both transponders are
obtained via diode detectors, which can be displayed in oscilloscope to measure the
equivalent peak voltages. The manufacturer provides a calibrated chart for each
transponder that relates pulse voltage to pulse power output. To measure the reflected
power the jumper is changed to reflected position. VSWR is not indicated directly, but
can be computed from incident and reflected power measurements.

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 DME antenna

DC3 DC4 S1

DC2 DC1 TX 1
Test Test

Jumpers
MONITOR N0.1

Signal TX 2
Monitor DC5

Ref. Inc. Ref Inc

Signal
Generator
Dumm. Jumpers
Load

Signal
Monitor

DME control
Signal
transfer unit Output measurement
Generator
DET. DET
MONITOR NO..2

(Wilcox 596B DME simplified block diagram)

Fig. 3.18

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